Promoting Cultural Understanding: The Case of the Saudi Arabian Social Studies Curriculum.

Alaklobi, Fahad

A study investigated the role of the Saudi Arabian social studies curriculum in helping Saudi students to understand other cultures. Analysis of the content of social studies textbooks revealed that they cover a wide range of cultural information related to countries from around the world. Saudi students start their cultural education in grade 5 by studying the Gulf Cooperation Council, made up of neighboring states in the Arabian Peninsula. In grades 6, 7, 8, and 9 they study about other selected foreign countries. (Contains a table of countries studied; indexes of cultural indication, population activities, national wealth, geographical information, and maps and pictures; and 10 references.) (BT)